In recent years, in the field of testing devices, especially communications devices, a high throughput and a high testing accuracy have been targeted. When performing a test of a device under test (DUT), it is first of all necessary to configure the device, so that it is ready for testing. Since this configuration requires a certain time, and especially, since this time is not always fixed, but can depend upon the individual DUT, it was necessary to wait, mostly longer than necessary, before beginning the testing, in order to make sure that the DUT is ready.
The patent application publication EP1794907B1 describes a testing system and method, which allow for a significant reduction in this set-up time since there, the DUT triggers the beginning of the measurement as soon as the configuration is complete.
Although this approach reduces the necessary time for testing a signal DUT, a significant increase in throughput cannot be reached. Especially, this approach cannot be used when testing more than one device simultaneously.
What is needed, therefore, is a test system and testing approach that reduces the required time for testing devices (e.g., communications devices), while facilitating the testing of multiple devices simultaneously.